"go figure"

[Jonathan Lighter]

The expression appears in an episode of _The Naked City_  titled "A
Succession of Heatbeats." It aired on ABC-TV in 1960. (Just saw it on
RetroTV):

 "Two grand [left untouched] upstairs. Go figure."

Modern usage looks like it's short for "(You) go figure it out [because it
makes no sense to me]."

JL

On Tue, May 1, 2012 at 1:33 PM, Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at gmail.com>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "go figure"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Indeed. I put a mental comma after go, but left out the comma, not the
> whole quote. I was going to strike it out in the final edit, but, of
> course, forgot.
>
>      VS-)
>
> On 5/1/2012 12:10 PM, Wilson Gray wrote:
> > On Tue, May 1, 2012 at 12:08 AM, Victor Steinbok<aardvark66 at gmail.com>
>  wrote:
> >> Many of those intending to go
> >> figure on killing two birds with one stone
> > This one doesn't count. Go figure.
> >
> > --
> > -Wilson
>
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"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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